This text was read in the opening of an Emergency Branch Meeting with QMUCU members on 22 September 2023. The meeting was called after management called off any further negotiations. The meeting held space for diverging positions and discussed various options. Eventually, we resolved, emphatically, to continue local strike action against punitive deductions aimed at stifling dissent, and for the university that QMUL can be, where staff and students are listened to. 

  1. Timeline of negotiations
  2. What we are striking for
  3. The motion

Timeline of negotiations

30th August 2023 – Branch emails detailed proposals to management which would have led to:

  • Withdrawal of local strike action
  • Reasonable deadline for return of marks
  • Limiting the period of pay deductions

5th September 2023 – Management reply in one line saying the proposals are not a basis for negotiation, but without specifying what that basis could be.

12th September 2023 – Branch replies saying we are still prepared to meet, and asking what they would consider a basis for negotiation. Management do not reply before the branch meeting.

14th September 2023 – Branch meeting votes to take 10 days of strike action. One hour later, management email to propose a meeting on Friday.

15th September 2023 – Meeting takes place. Management clarified that the deadlines we proposed for the return of marks were reasonable, but that the proposals on pay deductions were not acceptable. There are verbal discussions of particulars. Management say they will go back and consider their position, and update us early next week.

18th September 2023 – Strike action starts.

Wednesday 20th September 2023 – Management have still not replied. Branch reps email to ask to meet. In the evening, management reply to say there is no flexibility in their position on pay deductions.

21st September 2023 – Reps email to ask if this withdraws the verbal offer of 86 days.

22nd September 2023 – Management reply to say that is not on the table. In an Emergency Branch Meeting, members vote decidedly to not let this stand unchallenged. 

What we are striking for

The strikes next week are a major opportunity to put pressure on our management for their totally unacceptable conduct. The BBC are coming to Queen Mary on Monday, filming our picket all morning from 8:30-1:30pm. ITV called us this afternoon and are planning to come at 11am. The whole country will be watching.

To Council (the body which holds our Senior Executive to account) we need to be able to say that this policy does not work. Management want nothing more than to be able to turn around and say we gave in. That punitive deductions work. That threats work. That starving staff out works. We cannot give them that satisfaction or that victory.

It’s been said that without certain negotiations the strike is merely symbolic. No negotiations are ever certain, we have to fight for every concession, meeting, proposal, win. And no strike is merely symbolic. It is always a symbol of our collective power as workers, it is a publicly legible organising of that power, and that power is always material. Its bodies. Together. Holding a line. A strike is an objection and a refusal to accept the diminishing of our working conditions.

As members from Sheffield UCU put it at the cross-branch meeting on Wednesday, the deductions are a power grab. They were never about bringing unions to a negotiating table. They are about bringing us to our knees. It was always a union busting move. A just response is to go on strike and to show we object, and we’re still here. Next week’s strike is a clear sign that we will not take these deductions lying down, and there will be a clear cost if management continue with their destructive policy.

Over this summer we have seen an attempted normalisation of these deductions at our university, and an attempted normalisation of the rhetoric that union members are troublemakers. In all schools, line managers have stopped asking us all to respect each other’s choices. They’ve stopped acknowledging that many staff are not being paid right now. Stopped saying, to not be paid and to be asked to work is unacceptable. But we strike to say, this is not normal. This is not going to become normal.

As we’ve heard, management at QMUL maintain they steal our pay to minimise impact on students. At every stage we have proved that alibi for the lie that it is. We need to keep holding them to account. 

Management have put students in the middle. But they can’t pretend what they’ve done is for the students. In thousands of words of NSS feedback, students have told management the biggest problem at this institution is Industrial Action — and they blame management for it. Students are not accepting this as normal and we shouldn’t either. We want students to know that staff at QM fight for each other, fight for equal pay, fight to be paid at all.

There is a tough national context. People are tired and uncertain. But what we do know is that these deductions began as a national policy – we were the guinea pigs, but UCEA rolled it out. Other management backed away because they knew it was toxic. So, ours want to stick it out. Well we can stick it out too. This fight is inseparable from the national fight. It sends a clear signal to other employers about what will happen if they adopt this approach. It matters that we say: you will not do this to us, you cannot punish us out of our union.

We’re not alone. Branches stood with us last summer and we need to keep standing with other branches. And those that have gone in, have got deals, and are already asking us what they can do and what we need. They have funds to donate, support to give.

The strike next week matters. We have a lot to do for and with each other. 

The motion

This branch notes

  1. That national and local strike action has been notified at Queen Mary from 25th-29th September.
  2. That after engaging in further discussions with branch negotiators management have clearly indicated they were not willing to be flexible in their position on pay deductions for the marking and assessment boycott.
  3. That management are still proposing to deduct 100% pay for over 100 days from staff who participated in the marking and assessment boycott, which would make Queen Mary’s response the most punitive in the sector.
  4. That other branches across the country where university managers are refusing to negotiate are also taking strike action next week.
  5. That several branches have reached local agreements over pay deductions which have led to strike action being called off.

This branch believes

  1. That branch negotiators engaged in a good faith effort to settle the issue of pay deductions and the return of marks through agreement.
  2. That management’s refusal to negotiate shows they are responsible for any unnecessary and avoidable disruption.
  3. That the refusal of management to reconsider their position on pay deductions shows that they prioritise punishing staff over protecting students’ education.

This branch resolves

  1. To take local and national strike action on Monday 25th-Friday 29th September.
  2. To write to all members of Council ahead of their next meeting on 5th October to explain the situation and urge them to hold the Senior Executive Team to account.
  3. To call on UCU to provide further financial support to members suffering punitive pay deductions from the marking and assessment boycott and to those taking local strike action against deductions.
  4. To coordinate with other branches facing similar deductions to release a public statement against the normalisation of punitive pay deductions for action short of a strike.
  5. To continue supporting members in taking grievances and legal cases against Queen Mary against the imposition of punitive pay deductions.

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